


Vanitas Vanitatum Omnia Vanitas

by savanting



Series: Kashimalin's 50 Kisses Challenge [20]
Category: DCU, DCU (Comics), Wonder Woman (Comics), Wonder Woman (Movies - Jenkins), Wonder Woman - All Media Types
Genre: Bisexual Barbara Minerva, Bisexual Diana (Wonder Woman), Canon Compliant, Diana (Wonder Woman) & Clark Kent & Bruce Wayne Friendship, F/F, F/M, Female Friendship, Female-Centric, Friends to Enemies, Friends to Enemies to Lovers, Friends to Lovers, Holidays, Kissing, Loneliness, Minor Diana (Wonder Woman)/Bruce Wayne, One Shot, Post-Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Post-Canon, Post-Justice League (2017), Post-Wonder Woman (2017), Post-Wonder Woman 1984 (2020), Short One Shot, Workplace Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-02
Updated: 2021-01-02
Packaged: 2021-03-11 05:47:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,234
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28490058
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/savanting/pseuds/savanting
Summary: Diana thinks the sudden arrival of Barbara Minerva to Metropolis can only mean bad news - but maybe there's less ill will than she thought. One-Shot.[Prompt 37. Cleaning the other person's lips with a lick and a kiss.]Using Kashimalin's 50 kisses prompt list: https://www.google.com/amp/s/kashimalin-fanfiction.tumblr.com/post/178524845380/50-kiss-prompts/amp
Relationships: Clark Kent/Lois Lane, Diana (Wonder Woman) & Clark Kent, Diana (Wonder Woman) & Clark Kent & Bruce Wayne, Diana (Wonder Woman)/Barbara Minerva, Diana (Wonder Woman)/Bruce Wayne, Diana (Wonder Woman)/Steve Trevor
Series: Kashimalin's 50 Kisses Challenge [20]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2023708
Comments: 4
Kudos: 84





	Vanitas Vanitatum Omnia Vanitas

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own any _DC Comics_ property.
> 
> The "M" rating is for one instance of language.
> 
> Thanks go to @Five_seas for indulging me with this pairing for our prompt challenge. So - this is very holiday-centric because I imagine Diana gets lonely around the holidays due to her past and the fact that she is a god who has seen many lifetimes and much tragedy. I could have probably made it deeper, but I may explore the implications mentioned in this fic a bit more at a later date. I guess I just wanted someone to remind Diana that she wasn't alone. Also - fun fact: I really disliked _Wonder Woman 1984_ , but nonetheless I love the dynamic introduced between Diana and Barbara/Cheetah. I guess I wondered "what if" since I would like to see how a reunion between these two characters would go.
> 
> The title comes from the Latin words meaning "vanity of vanities; all is vanity."
> 
> The link to the original kiss prompt list: https://www.google.com/amp/s/kashimalin-fanfiction.tumblr.com/post/178524845380/50-kiss-prompts/amp

Diana had a rule about colleagues: she would do the necessary things, like holiday parties and the occasional night-out for drinks, but she kept her distance for the most part. Even though she had to admire Clark for his ability to juggle his _Daily Planet_ duties with workplace friendships, she herself could not bridge the distance as far as the staff at the Metropolis Historical Museum were concerned.

She had learned her lesson at the Smithsonian in the eighties - or so she told herself.

Until the one day in late November when a familiar face appeared as a new employee to be welcomed with open arms.

Diana’s fists clenched at her sides as she recognized the blond mane and deep brown eyes of Barbara Minerva - who, during the introductions, actually had the audacity to _wink_ at her.

Barbara, it seemed, had learned a few tricks in the decades since Diana had last sparred with her.

When it was time to shake hands, Barbara’s grip was more than a little firm.

“Nice to meet you,” she said, her smirk telling far more than her tone did. “I expect we’ll learn a lot from each other in the coming months.”

Later, Diana would have wished she were still in contact with Cassandra, the seer of the gods, who had a tendency to be blunt in ways the gods themselves often avoided.

“Oh,” Diana would imagine Cassandra would have said as the seer laid out her Tarot cards and pored over them, “you’re fucked.”

*

Days passed without preamble. Diana readied herself for another holiday night alone with nothing but a bottle of wine and a backlog of recorded shows on her DVR. Back when she was still new to the human world, she had thought herself a tragedy: she had never been able to spend a proper Christmas with Steve, never danced in front of a fireplace as Christmas carols spun on a record player nearby. Years later, of course, she came to despise the commercialism of the holiday while also resenting that she found herself moreless for lack of a partner (other than that one Christmas Eve in Gotham when she had attended a company party with Bruce; _that_ had been a mistake).

Any other year, she probably would have holed herself up in her office to go through new additions to the museum’s collection, but Barbara had offered to work the holiday shift as the “newbie” to the team. Diana might have been suspicious of Barbara’s motives at first, yet what really was the harm when all that had come in were World War I novelties? And Diana couldn’t avoid the thorny truth that going through the items herself likely could have caused pesky old memories to resurface.

Just when she was ready to curl up on the couch with her cat Zephyr at her feet, there came a knock at the door. With a sigh, she paused the romantic comedy on the screen and wondered if Clark and Lois had stopped by after visiting Lois’s parents. They really were too good to be true, honestly.

When Diana looked through the peephole, though, her expression hardened.

“Hello, Barbara,” Diana said as she opened the door and regarded the other woman. “What brings you here?”

The woman in question held up a bottle of wine. “I thought we could make amends over a nice glass of chardonnay,” she said. “What do you say?”

“Oh.” Diana didn’t know quite what to say as she stared at her once-enemy. Perhaps her first instincts had been wrong. But it wasn’t as if she could take out her lasso of truth and tie the other woman up with it until she spilled all her secrets, good and bad. “Come in, then.”

As Barbara walked in and shrugged off her winter coat, Diana saw how the other woman eyed the half-empty bottle of wine already sitting on the coffee table. “I see you got started without me,” she said.

“I wasn’t expecting company,” Diana said with some irritation as she stood awkwardly in the hallway.

All the while, Barbara made herself comfortable by plopping down on the cream-colored couch and scratching Zephyr under the chin. “Nice kitty,” she cooed while Diana watched in disbelief as Zephyr - who wouldn’t even let Clark pet him - closed his eyes in contentment.

“Did you really come here to share a glass of wine?” Diana asked, allowing herself to settle on the edge of the armchair across from the couch. “Or are you here to dredge up the past?”

To Diana’s surprise, Barbara laughed. “Oh, please,” she said. “I’m _so done_ with what happened in the eighties. No, no, no, I let that go a long time ago.”

“Then why are you here?” Diana asked, perplexed as she often was with humans. In the many years since she left Themyscira, she had never quite gotten used to the human psyche - even though she had once studied psychology and even had the degree to prove it. But many things still eluded her when it came to human reasoning.

Barbara leaned back on the couch and spread her arms behind her. “What, did you think I was here to declare war on you? For what? It’s not as if you were _wrong_.”

“You obviously did something to keep your youth,” Diana said. “You haven’t aged a day since I last saw you.”

A smile spread across Barbara’s face. “Let’s just say I’m in the gods’ favor these days,” she said, and Diana might have pressed any other time - but why should she when Barbara was posing no threat? Diana wasn’t like Clark or Bruce, always nosing around for any hint of discord or wrongness.

Unlike her male peers, Diana still wanted to believe in the hope of humanity rather than its chaos.

“All right,” Diana said, “I’ll take your word for it.”

Barbara raised her eyebrows. “Really? That’s it? No third-degree?”

Diana shook her head. “The holidays are a time to make peace with our enemies. Or, at least, that’s how I was taught.”

“Hmm.” Barbara actually sounded intrigued now. “You’re different than the woman I left behind all those years ago.”

Diana shrugged. “People change, no matter their circumstances.” Then she stood up and moved to the kitchen area. “Let me get you a glass.”

When Diana had poured Barbara a generous glass of wine, the two raised their glasses to each other. “A toast,” Diana said, “to new beginnings.”

“To rekindled friendships,” Barbara said, her eyes bright.

While Diana took a sip of her wine, however, Barbara just continued to watch her.

Diana couldn’t help the smile on her face. She even felt a little embarrassed by the attention. “What is it?”

Before Diana could properly steel her reaction, Barbara had leaned forward to brush her lips against Diana’s, her tongue teasing Diana’s lips. Then she leaned back, a subtle grin on her face. “Never been a big wine drinker,” Barbara said, “but that stuff’s magical.”

Maybe it was the wine, maybe it was the loneliness of the holiday season, or maybe it was just something that could have happened long ago - but Diana responded by pushing into Barbara’s space and taking another kiss, this one long and drawn-out.

There wasn’t any talking for a long time after that.

And it wasn’t a bad way to spend what otherwise would have been a lonely Christmas Eve.


End file.
